Sorry if this has already been brought up here--I did a quick Search for "Fate of Atlantis novelization" and found nothing.

Anyway, I stumbled across this today and literally ended up sucking like 2 hours out of my day reading the first several chapters.

This guy is doing a fan novelization of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, based on the game, the comics, and his own research. And here's the kicker--it's REALLY FRIGGIN' GOOD. Like, better than most of the official Indy novels I've read good. I'm flabbergasted. He's still got a few chapters to go, but WOW. It's so well written and researched. The way he's approached, reconceptualized, and added to familiar scenes from the game blows my mind. So good.

Man--I can't wait for this to get finished. It's such a great read--it was really hard to tear myself away from it and get back to my work.

Just a friendly reminder that chapter 17 is now online. This will officially be the final chapter posted until the novel is finished, but I promise that a treasure trove of Atlantean riches (i.e.- bonus material) await the patient adventurer!

Yeah, there's about a half-dozen folks who read the first two chapters and then said they're waiting for me to finish the story before they read the rest of it. Still three chapters to go, plus the epilogue, all of which I've been steadily working on since last year. I'd say about 70% of the remaining text is finished in a disjointed but chronological rough-cut form. My goal is to have FOA completed by the end of the year, so it's still a few months away. But I promise that it will be WELL worth the wait!

gioA, Would I attempt another Indy story? While FOA is great fun to write, it's also the most challenging story that I've ever worked on, and I've been at it for 2 years now. Although I am a rather creative guy, I think it would be much more difficult to come up with an original Indy story and sustain it for the length of one novel, let alone six (though Rob MacGregor makes it look effortless). Writing a novelization is much easier by comparison because everything is already in place. All I have to do is interpret and embellish it where more action is necessary to keep the plot interesting.

Then we have the financial angle: There is no profit in fan fiction (writing stories based on copyrighted intellectual properties), whereas I can actually try to publish and sell my own original stories. Fate of Atlantis is basically the equivalent of a fan film: a labor of love made by a dedicated Indiana Jones fan to share with other fans of the game. However, I am striving to give the story all the polish of an official novel that fans can enjoy reading on their computers. I like to think of it as the world's first Indy e-book.

Regarding the prospect of another full-length Indiana Jones story, it's very unlikely, although I have considered (with more than a little interest!) the idea of writing a short prequel to FOA, detailing Indy and Sophia's first meeting at the Jastro Dig, showing how Sophia found her Atlantean pendant, and her first spiritual contact with Nur-Ab-Sal. So I might do that someday, if there's enough fan interest. In the meantime, I have to finish writing FOA, and then complete my own original novel which I shelved at 17 chapters to dive into Fate of Atlantis.

Attila, thanks for the compliments. I rewrote chapter 17—literally—seven or eight times because I wasn't satisfied with it. I really wanted to ramp-up the suspense instead of skimping on the narrative by saying: "The submarine went into the mysterious cave, and emerged in Atlantis." When the destination is part of the story's title, its discovery needs to be suitably cinematic, so I really had to deliver the spectacle. About Indy, I wrote a scene that showed him hiding out among the other soldiers (playing cards in the galley, or whatnot), when I realized that it was pointless because the audience already knows that he's okay. It was more important to watch the discovery of Atlantis unfold from Sophia's perspective. And I left Übermann out of the action because I couldn't think of anything for him to do besides argue with Kerner, which would disrupt the wonder of the scene. Plus, I think it's more entertaining when Sophia argues with Kerner!

The PDF project is VP's idea, not mine. I don't have any experience with digital document formatting, so it's entirely out of my hands. If there's a real demand for the story (unlikely, I think), I can enlist someone to condense my original MS Word files into a zip file for quick download and printing.

Just a friendly reminder that chapter 17 is now online. This will officially be the final chapter posted until the novel is finished, but I promise that a treasure trove of Atlantean riches (i.e.- bonus material) await the patient adventurer!

Dale Dassel, you did an outstanding job bringing the old PC game to life! I was looking for something Indy-like to read, and when I found out you had finished this novelization (I know you've been working on it for years!) I was eager to jump right in.

The novel's length was just about perfect. Although I read it on an ereader, it felt similar in legth to the MacGregor novels and longer McCoy novels. Thepace was perfect, and the action moved logically from one chapter to the next.

You captured Indy's mannerisms and character perfectly. You also captured his skepticism of Atlantis's existence pretty well. I think it did linger a little too long after the evidence for Atlantis's existence starting showing up, but not enough to distract.

The relationship with Sophia Hapgood seemed to develop naturally. Great job, especially with her psychic interludes interrupting moments of passion, which added humor and tension.

The villains were well-rounded. Not too much exposition (like Army of the Dead). The one or two interludes early on that show the villains experimenting with the energy beads was not overly done and did not detract from the story at all. You have succeeded where a more accomplished author did not. Good job in creating the internal tension between Kerner and Ubermann over who was actually running the show. Its a tough balance to keep it from getting away from you, but you handled their competitive relationship perfectly.

The additions you made to flesh out the action or backstory not only made sense, but added necessary depth to the story.

I really like how you kept up with the previous books in the afterword explaining various plot devices and research. Very interesting stuff!

Finally, the artwork was fantastic. Both covers I've seen (the one for the incomplete version and the final version used) are excellent! Kudos to Christian Guldager!

The only drawback - I wish you could get this officially published, as it is worthy of sitting on the shelves right next to the best of MacGregor and McCoy's adventures.

Thank you very much for the great review! It's truly appreciated. Sorry for taking so long to finish the story, but I'm a perfectionist by nature and I refuse to settle for anything less than my absolute best work, especially with such an iconic tale. I'm also pleased that you recognized how the characters' relationships evolved naturally, which is the benefit of creating a story over several years. These people were in my mind every single day, existing and interacting like alternate egos who quickly took on a life of their own. After awhile it seemed like I was simply transcribing for them! There's no special trick to writing, except to say that you have to believe in everysingleword you write, otherwise nobody else will. Your review is my reward, confirming that I did my job right and produced an entertaining Indiana Jones adventure that other Indy fans can enjoy alongside of the official novels.

Not sure. Being a fan-made story, it's not an officially-licensed product, yet it IS based on a copyrighted game owned by Lucasfilm. I made (at great personal expense) spiral-bound print copies for myself and a select group of people who contributed to the project, but I'm not sure if you could have a book manufactured via print-on-demand service. My theory is that once they see the cover artwork, they might put the brakes on it because it's based on a trademarked intellectual property, and possibly contact LFL. However, if you'd like to print out a book for yourself at home, I'd be happy send you all of my original files (just send me a PM with your e-mail address). I'm really flattered that people appreciate my work, and the more copies in existence, the better!

Thanks for the reply. You confirmed what I already thought.
Could you tell me how to download the mobi and epub versions onto my tablet as when I click on them they just come up with a screen of nonsense text instead of a download.
thanks.
once again loved the book.

Actually, I'm not very tech-savvy when it comes to e-readers. You'd have to ask Laserschwert, who adapted the story for digital distribution. He told me how to copy the text file last year, but I don't remember the details now. I'm sure if you send him a PM, he will gladly help out.